An Old Friend's Intuition
by BornOnTheBreakOfDawn
Summary: He had to admit he was right. EdHughes Friendship/Eventual EdWin


An Old Friend's Intuition

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Spoiler warning: Some scenes may hint towards the end of the manga or FMA Brotherhood series

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On top of a grassy hill in Central's cemetery, a lone young man slowly made his way among the sea of headstones marking the graves of fallen soldiers. His long, golden hair that was tied up in a ponytail swayed as he walked slowly towards the grave of one of his most trusted friends back in his teenage years. He paused as he let his golden eyes trace the name engraved on the cool marble stone in front of him...

_Brigadier General Maes Hughes  
_  
He gave a sad smile as he looked at the headstone and lowered the bouquet of flowers he brought along with him.

"Hey, there General," he started, "It sure has been a while."

He slowly stood, dusting off the dust from his pants and tucked his hands into his pockets.

"Sorry if today's the only time I managed to come over here and visit... Been busy and all."

He reached into his breast pocket, fishing out a photograph, and gave a very loving smile as he gazed into it.

"You know, General, I think your over-doting dad antics rubbed off on me. You'd surely laugh if you could see me act and talk about my kid. Too bad you're not here to tease me about it." The man sighed and continued, "But Major General Mustang has filled that role for you and gets to tease me every chance he gets. It's getting really annoying."

He placed the photograph back in his pocket. Then, a thought crossed his mind, bringing a smirk to his lips.

"Watch out when it's that guy's turn to tie the knot and gets a kid of his own. It'll be payback time, trust me. But I do have an edge over him, though. I haven't let him get over the fact that I got married before he did. Ha! The guy claims to be a real ladies' man, but I managed to get a bride before he did. And I'm like what, 13 years younger than him? I tell you, it's a sore spot in the guy's pride."

However, his smug expression eventually gave way to his contented smile as he fingered his wedding ring with his thumb. Just then, he heard footfalls on the grass behind him and he turned to take a look at the newcomer. And who he saw was enough to bring a huge grin to his face.

"Hi Ed. I see you're having a great time talking to the Brigadier General."

A pregnant woman with long, light blonde hair smiled to the man while walking towards him, bringing two handmade wreaths of flowers. She lowered the flowers right next to the bouquet and straightened up to stand while being supported by her husband. He encircled one of his arms around her waist, while the other hand gave her still small baby bump a slight pat.

"Hey, Win. What brings you to these parts?"

Winry gave Edward's chest a playful slap and giggled.

"What, I can't visit an old friend?"

Ed gave a lighthearted chuckle.

"Of course you can. We'd definitely love the company."

The woman smiled and leaned her head on her companion's shoulder.

"It's been quite a while since I've last come here. I decided to visit Mr. Hughes as well as do a special favor for our little boy." She pointed to the flower wreaths she placed on the grave. Edward raised an eyebrow as Winry looked up at him and beamed proudly.

"Remember when we were kids we would make a bunch of flower wreaths for our parents?"

Ed nodded.

"Well, I decided to make one today. Our little Eddie and Elysia saw what I was doing and wanted to make another flower wreath together. When I told the two of them that I was planning on visiting Mr. Hughes' grave this afternoon, they wanted so much to come along to bring the flower wreaths we made. They got so excited that it tired them both out and I couldn't bring myself to disturb their nap."

The couple shared a small laugh.

"So I told Gracia that I would be bringing the wreaths for them when I came to visit. She offered to watch over Eddie in our absence. But once they wake up and if there's still time, she'll bring the kids here to visit Mr. Hughes' grave as well."

Edward smiled.

"I'm pretty sure the brigadier general will be more than happy to get more visitors."

Just then, they heard a shout from a distance, "Mommy! Daddy!"

The couple turned to locate the source of the voice and saw a young boy, nearing the age of 3 with bright golden hair and eyes, running towards them. Beaming, Winry stepped away from Edward, walked towards her son, and held out her arms for him as she knelt. The little boy ran straight into his mother's arms, giving her the biggest hug he could manage. The scene was so heartwarming, Ed couldn't help but smile. He then saw from a distance the figures of Gracia and Elysia heading towards them.

He turned to the grave and spoke softly to his old friend, "You really were too smart for your own good, Hughes. You were right; Winry does make a great wife..." He glanced back to his child and to the special woman in his life, "...And a great mother." He then made his way toward his family and brought them to his arms.

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Author's notes: Finally I managed to find time and a working PC to publish this story. This had been written last December of the previous year and but had been edited last February within this year. It has been lying around in my docx inbox for quite a long time but finally I get to post it.

It's sort of timely though, I posted this story on Mother's day. (Happy mother's day to all moms and soon- to-be moms out there ^_^)

This was inspired from the scene when Hughes was visiting Ed at the hospital after the lab 5 incident, remarking that Winry will make a great wife someday.

I want to offer special thanks to my beta-readers: Auto-Alchemechanicist and Maltrazz. ^_^

Disclaimer:

I'm not the cow.

Hiromu Arakawa is.

Fullmetal Alchemist is hers.

I don't own it.


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